Product Reviews
Disturbed's fifth long-player opens with an uncharacteristic instrumental, a bleak And Justice for All-era Metallica-inspired dirge that shoots out the lights and sets the stage for the blistering title cut. That brief detour from the formula will likely draw in some of the band s detractors, but Asylum is hardly a rewiring of the band s sound. What Disturbed has always excelled at is machine-like execution of carefully plotted brutality, and the thirteen tracks that occupy Asylum are textbook examples of the Chicago-based outfit s mastery of commercially viable, yet still cool enough for the fringe, modern metal. The foundation may be set, but between David Draiman's clear and concise, powerhouse vocals, which carry melodies (specifically on the choruses) that ricochet around convention like a pinball, and guitarist Dan Donegan's tasteful, occasionally beautiful guitar work, Disturbed gets to have it both ways. That the band can tackle the Holocaust ( Never Again ), global warming ("Another Way to Die ), lycanthropy ( The Animal ), and miscarriage ( My Child ) with the same amount of intensity that they bring to a cover of U2's I Still Haven t Found What I m Looking For (not so cleverly disguised as ISHFWILF ), is admirable, but what really sets Disturbed apart from other 21st century metal acts is their ability to consistently repackage and resell their sound in a way that avoids redundancy. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi
Product Notes
2010 album from the Chicago-based Alt-Metal band. A decade after the release of their groundbreaking debut, The Sickness, Disturbed have become one of the most passionate and well-respected bands in the Hard Rock universe, a dependable source not only of pummeling riffs and jackhammer beats, but of personal and political insights into our troubled times. The band began building Asylum as soon as they got off the road in the summer of 2009. Officially entering Groovemaster Studios in February 2010, the band set about self-producing the album, as they did with Indestructible.